"Tch... You men always prefer hanging around bars. How boring."
"Leaving a poor, helpless girl like me outside—how heartless."
Margaret tilted her head in a pout, reproaching Aleric with feigned anger.
Her adorable expression paired with her flawless beauty drew the gazes of the sparse passersby—who wouldn't appreciate a lovely lady?
"Those sea dogs love harassing girls. How could I bear to see you suffer?"
Aleric's voice softened, his weathered, rugged features relaxing slightly as he gazed sweetly into her eyes.
"Hmph, sweet talker... Let's go home. You promised we'd take a carriage, remember? I'm already exhausted from walking."
"Of course, my dear."
Aleric stepped to the roadside and raised his hand toward an approaching carriage and its driver.
"Clatter, clatter..." The wheels emitted strange noises but still carried the carriage forward... though it didn't seem particularly steady.
"Now would be the perfect time for a warm fire... Ah, my hair..." Margaret didn't seem too pleased but obediently stood by Aleric's side.
"Don't worry... Ah!"
Suddenly, the carriage wheel before Aleric broke off. The momentary loss of balance sent the carriage toppling sideways—the massive vehicle collapsing toward them. The wheel, which had been groaning ominously, had long been on its last legs; making it this far was a miracle.
"Watch out!" Aleric's face paled as he pulled Margaret into his arms, bracing one hand against the wall within his shadow's reach. He spun around, shielding her from the falling carriage.
"Ah! Aleric! You're too close..."
Margaret stared at Aleric's face mere inches from hers, feeling his breath against her skin, and flushed crimson.
Yet she completely missed the shadows stirring around Aleric, the fleeting blankness in his eyes, and their gradual chilling intensity.
"Goodness! Sir! Madam! My deepest apologies!" The carriage driver hastily leaped down from the overturned vehicle and rushed over.
He opened his mouth to apologize but froze when he saw the man's hand resting on his waist.
"Scram!" Aleric's eyes blazed with fury as he decisively drew the revolver at his hip and fired point-blank into Margaret's left abdomen.
If not for accidentally touching his own shadow, triggering his originium's reaction to purge the influence in his mind, he might have already fallen for this puppet's scheme!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Gunshots rang out in rapid succession, multiple bullets tearing through the puppet's abdomen at close range—yet the wounds slowly began to heal.
"Ahhh!" The driver shrieked, sprinting away faster than he ever had in his life, fleeing the gun-wielding madman as the few scattered pedestrians panicked around him.
"Aleric... why...?" Margaret's eyes welled with tears as she asked, wounded.
"Why didn't it work on you?"
With a sudden leap, she effortlessly broke free from Aleric's embrace—she must have possessed some beyonder trait enhancing her agility!
Then, she drew the dagger at her side and swung it at Aleric.
"Damn it!" In such a critical situation, the Veteran's high-pressure stability trait kicked in. Even in close combat, his gun remained firmly locked onto Margaret's forehead.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two more shots! One grazed past Margaret's forehead, while the other struck her shoulder directly. She let out a muffled groan but didn't fall.
She was a bionic puppet, devoid of the weaknesses inherent in a human body.
Aleric turned, then suddenly lowered his gun and yawned...
"I should go home. That boss really..."
But the next moment! Just as Margaret thought she had succeeded, an eerie aura surged from Aleric once again!
His eyes instantly cleared—both the hypnosis and the provocation had failed!
Looking again at the scarf around Margaret's neck, Aleric remembered there was a keyhole structure hidden within... Unless something unexpected had happened, a winding key should still be inserted inside.
That might be the key to suppressing her.
"Hmph!"
Seeing that her powers of provocation and hypnosis had all failed, she didn't give up. Instead, she immediately activated her last beyonder trait—the power of Pugilist from the Warrior Pathway, Sequence 8.
However, since she could only harness part of the trait's enhanced strength, she couldn't weaken Aleric's beyonder influence.
Aleric drew a short blade from his side—a military dagger brought back from the Eastern Balam battlefield, sharp and deadly.
Though Margaret was unarmed, her hardened bionic body lacked the many vulnerabilities of a human form.
Back and forth they clashed, separating and reuniting, until Aleric found himself at a disadvantage.
"Hehehe... It's over..." Margaret sneered, throwing a punch toward Aleric.
"Not necessarily!" Aleric snorted coldly, pressing his hand against his own shadow.
Just as Klein could borrow partial high-sequence abilities in advance by relying on Sefirah Castle, Aleric mimicked his method, borrowing a fraction of his own future sequence's power.
The sequence he borrowed from was the, Sequence 7—the Torturer. Beyond strengthening the powers of previous sequences, this sequence added one more trait: drastically amplifying the suffering of others.
In an instant, all non-combat elements in the scene vanished, and Aleric's next attack carried a terrifying force.
Margaret had no time to dodge. The rapidly approaching Aleric and his dagger left a small cut on her.
"Ahhh!!!"
Margaret suddenly felt an indescribable, excruciating pain. Having never experienced suffering before, she let out a blood-curdling scream, as if being flayed alive or having her bones gouged out.
She collapsed weakly to the ground, her body convulsing uncontrollably. Such immense pain and mental shock would have driven an ordinary beyonder to lose control instantly. Yet, as a mere puppet, she couldn't lose control.
However, the intense emotional turmoil caused a slight disorder in the beyonder traits within her, scattering the hypnosis she had just prepared... The pain was utterly unbearable for her.
Aleric wasn't feeling too well either. The spiritual drain from drawing on his power in advance was greater than he'd imagined. Pressing a hand to his head, he used the Lost Monument to recover some of his spirituality before finally feeling slightly better.
He approached Margaret. Under her gaze filled with despair and pleading, Aleric removed the veil.
But in that instant, his eyes froze.
All he saw was an empty keyhole—no key in sight.
"So unwilling to be controlled, are we?" Aleric snorted coldly, continuing to slide the dagger across Margaret's skin. "Where's the key?"
"I... I really don't know!" Margaret cried out in pain, tears and snot streaming down her face. "It was on me at first, but I don't know when it disappeared!"
Though still terrified of the excruciating pain, deep within her chaotic, evil heart, Margaret was laughing madly at Aleric.
"You think you can control me? Dream on!"
Staring at the gleaming dagger and recalling that inexplicable, terrifying agony, Margaret decided to endure for now and plan her next move—as soon as the opportunity arose! The moment she had even a sliver of freedom, she would repay every ounce of humiliation and suffering a hundredfold!
Aleric glanced at the sky. If those fleeing passersby had reported this, the police would be arriving soon—in other words, he had no time to waste on a mere puppet.
As for how to control this puppet, he already had a plan in mind.
"Doesn't matter. You're my personal property now... You agree with that, don't you?"
Aleric pressed the dagger against Margaret's abdomen. The cold touch brought her hatred-filled mind into sharp clarity.
"...Y-yes, Master."
"Good." Aleric smirked darkly. "Then since you're my property now, anything lost from you is something lost from me, right?"
Before Margaret could grasp his meaning, Aleric reached out and grabbed at the air.
A gleaming, chipped brass winding key appeared in his hand.
Taking in Margaret's despairing expression, Aleric sneered.
"Sleep now, Margaret."
With a casual toss, he threw her—now reduced to an object—along with the winding key into the nonexistent Black Coffin. After a final glance at the overturned carriage, Aleric vanished from the spot.
After his disappearance, faint spiritual creatures appeared in the vicinity, but they merely drifted about aimlessly.
...
In front of a somewhat shabby apartment in Backlund.
An ordinary postman finished his day's hard work. Rubbing his right eye socket, he stretched and let out a long sigh.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, he froze. Reaching for the keychain at his waist, he realized—contrary to his memory—one of the keys was missing.
This was a development he had never anticipated.
"What's going on?"
He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a crystal monocle, placing it over his right eye.
Sensing the fluctuations of spirituality, he tried tracing the changes in fate to find the culprit, but came up empty-handed.
The sudden turn of events left him utterly bewildered. He carefully combed through his memories and even consulted his other avatars—only to receive negative responses. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
He was deeply puzzled.
"...Did I change my mind?